people now a days dont want to do the work for you so go to shadow craft.... getting peoples personal opinions is a dying breed now a days

The issue is that the "opinions" are based on findings... from Shadowcraft/Simulationcraft. When it comes to comparing specific pieces, we then ask for someone's armory, so we can load their character into shadowcaft and see what it shows - there are some ins and outs that the average user doesn't get, but for "which piece is better," we all take the same path unless we KNOW the answer inherently.

OP: the 502 shoulders are better itemized, but the T14 set bonus is valuable enough that it should come ahead. When you also have a headpiece to swap, or T15 set bonus options, check back - in Shadowcraft.

For me sims showed that even replacing a 496 T14 item with a 522 item wasn't worth it to break any set bonus. I had to replace both 496 items with a higher itemlevel, but for details just check it yourself as mentioned.

Also you should keep in mind, that the set boni are very situational. The 2p bonus is very strong if you have to switch targets often while leaving ruptures on the last target. While the 4p bonus prolongs and enhances your burst phases. Breaking a bonus for a higher itemlevel item enhances your overall damage, but will hurt you in these mentioned situations.